


bad habits, they die hard

by SiriCerasi



Series: hc_bingo [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Community: hc_bingo, F/M, Gen, Heat Stroke, Hurt/Comfort, Len Really Hates the Heat, Len is Captain Cold for a REASON, Lewis Snart's A+ Parenting, POV Leonard Snart, POV Sara Lance, Sara has Good Survival Skills, Sara is a Tiny Protective Ninja, heat exhaustion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-01
Updated: 2016-11-01
Packaged: 2018-08-28 13:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8447122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SiriCerasi/pseuds/SiriCerasi
Summary: They have no food, and more importantly, no water. There's not a single tree in sight, nothing higher than stubby bushes, and Leonard fucking Snart will not take off his goddamn parka.
Or, Sara and Len get stranded in the heat, Len is stubborn and whiny, and Sara is 100% done.Written for my hc_bingo fill "heat exhaustion".





	

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I told my brain this wasn't what it should be working on, but it ignored me, so.
> 
> [wreak havoc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1mFLiZ0t6c) (skylar grey)

_**xxx** _

_all of my sins i would repeat and i repeat  
cause imma be me til the death of me_

_**xxx** _

If she had to choose, Sara is pretty sure she'd take extreme heat over extreme cold. Not actually dying from it - heat stroke is definitely worse than hypothermia - but as long as she's still alive, she'd rather her muscles not be frozen. Nanda Parbat had featured both extremes, and having trained in both - sure, heat exhaustion sucks, but it beats being slow and creaky and losing an arm.

Leonard, of course, doesn't see it that way.

"Stop being such a baby," she snaps the tenth time he complains of the heat. "It's not _that_ hot."

"It's sweltering," he retorts. "It's sunny, and scorching, and-"

"So take off your goddamn jacket," Sara growls. They've been stuck out here for hours now in the middle of nowhere, left to die by the charming local villagers who had taken offense at Sara defending one of the waitresses against a patron's wandering hands. All they'd wanted was a drink. Of course, all their drinks seem to end with brawls, and Rip had been very explicit in his "don't disturb the timeline" speech. _Don't kill anyone_ , he'd said. _Don't destroy the future_ , he'd said. Sara had been focusing so hard on not killing anyone that she missed the blow to the back of her head, and woke up while she and Len were being dumped from a horse onto the dusty ground.

So now here they are, hours later, trudging along the tracks left by the villagers. Which, if they have any brains, they'd purposefully left needlessly wandering. But it's still their best shot, not only at actually making it back on their own but for someone on the team to find them. If they're looking. They'll have to look eventually, right?

They have no food, and more importantly, no water. There's not a single tree in sight, nothing higher than stubby bushes, and Leonard fucking Snart will not take off his goddamn parka.

They'd been dropped off at a little before sunrise; it's only a few hours later, the sun still hours away from its zenith, but the heat is already stifling. Not that Sara would admit that to Len, as he'd take it as an open invitation to complain non-stop. But with no water, she knows they'll have to stop soon, or risk heat exhaustion.

"You know, you took the damn thing off when we were _freezing_ to death," she points out when Len ignores her on the subject.

"You needed it then," he says shortly. Sara sighs and stops, looking at him. Sara had been lucky to awaken with her hat still around her neck; Len hadn't been as fortunate. It hadn't been a problem at first, when it was cool and the sunlight wasn't so harsh, but now he's starting to turn red, face lined with sweat, and he really does look miserable. He has his eyes fixed on the ground and doesn't notice her pause, nearly walking straight into her until she holds her hands out with an amused, " _Len_." He looks up, blinking, and his eyes look too glassy for her liking. She frowns, scanning the area around them; still no shade in sight, but there are a good number of bushes, and it gives her an idea.

"Well, I need it again," she tells him firmly, holding out a hand. "Strip, Snart." He just raises an eyebrow at her, and Sara growls in frustration. She yanks her hat from her head, smacking it onto his, smirking as he yelps. "Fine, then sit. I will need that jacket soon."

She spends the next few minutes pulling bushes from the ground, then carefully piling them atop a natural clump already there to form a sketchy half-circle. Len drifts over when he realizes what she's doing, trying to help, but when he stumbles dizzily after leaning over she just growls, " _Sit_." He obeys shockingly fast, and she tries not to worry too much about it.

She winces when she takes off her own jacket; she'd put it on when she'd started to feel the sun lick her skin, and she can practically feel it burning her once exposed. She wrangles the parka off Len - he has a long sleeve shirt on underneath, because of _course_ he does, but at least she doesn't have to worry about him burning too much.

It takes a few tries, but eventually she manages to stretch their jackets across the top of the half-circle wall of bushes she's made, almost to waist height. It's flimsy and won't hold up to the slightest wind, but she figures she'd rather have that wind than this dead air anyway. She ushers Len into the tentative shade and crawls up beside him, sighing at the instant relief from the glaring sun.

"See, told you I needed it," she smirks. Len just makes a vague noise in response. Sara frowns, carefully reaching over to tug her hat back from his head, placing it gingerly over a hole in the bushes. Then she presses her hand to his forehead, cursing. "Jesus, you're burning up."

"Told you it was hot," he mutters. Sara bites her lip, frantically working through all the different scenarios the team could work through to find them. It's been hours; they could arrive any minute.

Or, they could just not come at all, a nasty little voice says, and she firmly squashes that one.

"Len, you need to get some layers off." He shakes his head, and Sara sighs, "Len."

"I'm serious."

"So am I," she snaps. "Your body is overheated, and if we don't cool you down you'll just feel worse. And eventually die."

"Always the optimist."

"Dammit, Leonard!" She takes a slow breath, forcing back her anger; it never works well with him. "Whatever you hang-up is, get over it, cause I'm not gonna sit here while you die of heat stroke."

He's silent for a long moment, then finally sighs. "You're very bossy, Canary," he states as he stiffly moves to take his shirt off. He's even more soaked in sweat than she is, and Sara is starting to seriously worry about dehydration. She's added his shirt to the growing shield of clothes before she even notices the scars all across his torso, and she blinks. Is that why he didn't want to strip? She should show him hers sometime.

"Pants," she orders. He mumbles something about "bed" and "just asked" and she ignores him, already moving to the next problem: water. She doesn't recognize these bushes, unfortunately, and a quick query to Len gets a head shake. They're not desperate enough yet to try them, she decides. Better to wait.

Time passes, and the air gets hotter and closer, the sun stronger around their sad little shelter. Sara checks to make sure Len is awake every few minutes, pressing a hand to his forehead occasionally. He's cooled down fractionally, and she feels a little better for that.

She's started making plans for the evening, when it's cooler, debating whether to stay here with Len or strike out on her own in hopes of finding help, when she hears a faint, familiar whirring sound. She's hardly had time to raise her head when something whizzes by, destroying their shelter in one rush of air, and she's never been happier to see Ray Palmer.

"Hey guys, did I interrupt something?" he asks with a grin. Sara doesn't have time for that.

"Get Len back to the ship, _now_ ," she orders, already moving to shield him from the sun. "Tell Gideon we were left here just before dawn, walked for a few hours, stopped and made shelter maybe..." She glances at the sun, screaming down from its height. "Two hours ago." She doesn't bother with his shirt, and the parka is too heavy; she slips her own jacket haphazardly around Len's shoulders, and even comically small it's enough to shield him from the sun for the quick trip back.

"We had no water. I cooled him down a little, but he's still overheated." Ray looks a little shocked at her rush of words, until Sara snarls, "Ray, _go_." Then he scoops up Len, waits for Sara to toss his shirt like a blanket across his chest and place her hat back on Len's head.

"Jax is on his way in the jumpship," he tells her. She doesn't even care, as long as he gets Len to Gideon _now_.

She collapses wearily back into the ruins of their shelter, watching Ray's retreating form until it's gone. A few minutes later the air shimmers, with more than just heat, and the jumpship blows away the remaining bushes around her. Sara just sits there, hair a tangled mess, until a hole appears in the air and cold air rushes out and she can't get up fast enough.

Jax is still fiddling with controls when Sara collapses into the chair beside him, and he jump.

"Jesus, make some noise or something!" Sara smirks, sagging back into the chair as Jax reaches down beside him for a water bottle. Several water bottles. Sara drains one in a single go, forcing herself to drink the next more slowly. She leans forward, pressing her forehead into the cold metal of the console, suddenly exhausted.

"You okay?" Jax asks. He hasn't taken off, for which Sara is infinitely grateful. She nods into the console, mumbles, "Len?"

"Sick as shit, but Gideon says he'll be fine." Sara's shoulders sag, and she breathes a sigh of relief. "He threw up on Ray," Jax tells her, a little too amused. "I guess he's Captain Cold for a reason. You seem to be handling it okay."

"Ninja training," Sara mumbles, wincing when she automatically uses Len's phrase. " _League_ training," she corrects. Jax snickers, and she fixes him with what she hopes is a terrifying glare. "Heat exhaustion or not, I can still kick your ass and leave _you_ here to fry."

Jax looks appropriately chastised, quickly returning to the controls, and Sara smirks. Amateurs.

_**xxx** _

_i can smell your fear_  
_the only reason that i'm here is to wreak havoc_

_**xxx** _

Hot. It's very, very hot, and he's sweat out more than he'd thought possible, and he's pretty sure his brain is actual mush. He'd told Sara it was too hot. He'd _told_ her.

"Alright, Snart, just hang on a minute." Ray. Ray had carried him back to the ship. It's dark and cool but he's still too hot, wants to tear his skin off. He shifts weakly, and his shirt falls off.

That can't be right.

But then he remembers, Sara had made him take his clothes off, and now he's wearing nothing and Ray is _touching_ him and he lashes out so fast Ray nearly drops him. _Should've_ dropped him, but Len's muscles are useless and he _can't move_ and-

"Jesus, calm down." Ray sounds angry, and Len wants to curl up in a hole and never come out and-

"Okay, Haircut, I got this." Mick. _Mick_. Len has never been happier to hear his voice, or feel his calloused hands as they take Len's pathetically weak body from Ray's arms, more gentle than usual. "Easy, Lenny. I gotcha, let's get you cooled down." Len squirms away from Ray's touch, and Ray seems only too happy to let him go.

"You look like shit, Len," Mick says gruffly. He tries to retort, but his lips are so dry, each breath painful and rasping. "Just a minute, you'll get some water. Just hold on." Len had assumed they were going to the med bay, but instead Mick brings him to the closest shower and dumps him onto the floor. "Gideon wants you on an IV, but gotta cool you off first," he explains. "Plus, you stink."

Len mumbles, nothing coherent coming out, but then there's cold water streaming down and he's too happy to care. He tips his head back to drink, but Mick stops him, and Len is pretty sure he makes the most embarrassing whining noise he's ever uttered.

"Here," Mick grunts, holding out a cup of ice chips. "This first. You'll just make yourself sick again with water." Len grabs the ice with fingers that hardly obey him, sucking on it greedily. A couple more and the world isn't quite so hazy, and Mick hands him a small cup of water dubiously. "Slowly," he orders. Len obeys, and when he's drained more than his slow brain can keep track of Mick shuts the water off.

And then he remembers he's basically naked, remembers _Ray_ had seen him that way, and Mick's hand comes down on his shoulder just as he starts to panic. "Lenny. Breathe. Just me here." He sucks down air and nods. Mick rests a towel across his shoulders, and Len clutches it around him, curling into a tighter ball. "I'm gonna get you some dry clothes, then we'll get you to med bay, yeah?" He nods, mainly because he can’t think of anything else to do.

As the door starts to shut he blurts, “ _Sara?_ ”, can’t believe it'd taken him this long to ask.

“Jax picked her up in the jumpship,” Mick reassures him, stepping back inside. “She’s doing a lot better than you.”

“She has ninja training,” Len mutters, and Mick just rolls his eyes.

“Sure, buddy. I’ll be right back.”

Len manages to walk to the med bay, or at least lean heavily on Mick and be dragged. Sara is on one of the chairs when he gets there, sedated, and he turns to Mick angrily.

“You said she was okay!” he snaps, or tries to snap, but it comes out rather small and pathetic. Mick doesn’t stop moving, just shoves Len down on the other chair.

“She’s fine. First she wouldn’t sit still because you weren’t here, then she was dead set on starting a small war with the assholes that left you guys out there. Gideon decided it was safest to sedate her for a bit.”

Len settles down a bit at that, lets Mick attach him to an IV identical to Sara’s. “Fluids,” he says when Len tenses.

"There'd better not be... any..." The world goes hazy, and what was he saying?

Mick grins. "Damn, those are some good drugs, Gideon."

Len tries futily to remember what he was going to say, and then he's out.

_**xxx** _

_they call me a menace_  
_they say that i'm cursed_

_**xxx** _

He wakes to a familiar slicing sound, and groans.

"What d'you have to moan about? You just slept for 12 hours."

Len cracks his eyelids, looking warily at Sara. "Anytime I wake up here with you looking at me like that, you call me an idiot."

"You are an idiot."

"It wasn't my fault!" he protests. Sara raises an eyebrow, glancing away from her knife to skewer him with a glare.

"You didn't take off that stupid jacket."

"It was protecting me from the sun."

"You had a long sleeve shirt on underneath."

He opens and closes his mouth, finally mutters, "You have a terrible bedside manner."

"Only when I have to babysit crooks with terrible survival skills."

Len groans, pressing his hands to his face. "Gideon, can you sedate me again please?" Sara snorts softly, and resumes sharpening her knife.

"I'm afraid I agree with Miss Lance," Gideon says.

"Really, you're agreeing with the person you sedated a few hours ago because she wanted to start a war?"

"It was really more of a vendetta," Sara observes. When Len lowers his hands, he finds her picking at her nails with the tip of her knife.

"Did... did you really?" he sputters, and she smiles serenely.

"Why do you think I'm sharpening these?"

Oh, no, he's not _touching_ that one.

"I'm going back to sleep," he announces, throwing an arm across his face dramatically. He's sure Sara is smirking.

"Night, crook," is all she says. He falls asleep to the rhythmic sound of steel on stone.

_**xxx** _

_we live fast we die hard_  
_go against me, you'll die hard_

_**xxx** _

**Author's Note:**

> I finally managed to write Mick as not an asshole \o/ hurrah
> 
> My number 1 ship is still Sara/Sharp Objects, in case you were wondering


End file.
